Afrimakers and OUWA Team up to Train the Next Generation of Ghanaian Makers

Trainees keenly engaged during the Africamakers Uganda session. Source: Afrimakers

Afrimakers project, in partnership with Open University of West Africa (OUWA) and a few others, are making further strides towards nurturing a maker movement in Ghana. Their three step strategy involves:

1. Training facilitators to lead mentoring workshops and the community
2. Mentoring 6 to 17 year olds to acquire the necessary problem-solving skills
3. Showcasing innovations and networking through maker faire type events

Victor Kelechi Ofoegbu, one of the coordinators for the first facilitators workshop coming up at iHub, Accra next Monday, 10th March states:

The project aims to spark interest in young children for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) by exploring a range of hands-on experiments hands. The projects range from building paper-based electronic circuit boards, air quality control sensors, recycling old web cams into microscopes, to programming Raspberry Pi microcomputers.

This is a brilliant opportunity to improve problem-solving through open innovation in Ghana. Everyone should register and be part of it.      

Tullow Group Scholarships for Prospective African and South American Masters Students

Take a bold step and apply to be a Tullow scholar

The British Council is accepting applications for the 2014 cohort of the Tullow Group Scholarship Scheme (TGSS). TGSS, funded by Tullow Oil plc, and managed by the British Council, has been put in place to support development in countries where Tullow operates. High potential scholars from selected countries in Africa and South America are sponsored for masters programmes in top universities in UK, Ireland and France. British Council runs a rigorous assessment process to select the most suitable candidates for the programme. The scheme is in its third year of full operation, and application is opened up to 28th February. More details and instructions can be found at the TGSS website.

BloggingGhana and the Building of a Social Media Hub in Ghana

BloggingGhana facilitates positive use of social media through BlogCamp

The use of social media in Ghana has grown in leaps and bounds over the last few years. Young people in particular are attracted to digital media because they are able to network, explore opportunities and express themselves without much hindrance. In response to the demand of Ghana's growing digital population, various Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are enabling increasingly cheaper and faster connections to the world wide web.

The organic expansion of the local virtual ecosystem has been propelled in no small part by BloggingGhana (BloGH) through projects, workshops, events and thought leadership. This has added some concreteness and tangibility to the possibilities of social media as a tool for social change. Now BloGH aims to give Ghanaian social media users a home, a space where all things social media would converge. To this end, BloggingGhana is pooling resources from among members, the larger online community and all who find their work useful through the #MoreStories fundraising drive. BloGH executives Edward and Kajsa explain what #MoreStories is all about:

Success of this project will empower social media users in Ghana to hone their skills, build new businesses, forge ahead and share authentic stories of their experiences. You can contribute to this great dream by:

1. Donating money through the special #MoreStories indiegogo funding page
2. Transferring money to Guaranty Trust Bank A/C: 204 109 117 11
3. Donating office equipment and other resources (Contact number: 233 026.146.9710 )
4. Spreading the word to your networks (tag @BloggingGhana in your posts)

BloGH has already acquired the office space and needs about $10,000 to get it running. An Ewe proverb translates loosely as "if you manage to lift a load up to your knee level, you must be assisted to place it on the head." Clearly, BloGH has done a lot to get this project started. Let's all help to make it real. Yedaase!

Remembering Komla Dumor, a Great Ambassador for Ghana



BBC World Service/Flickr

We lost Nelson Mandela and Prof Ewurama Addy recently, and now we've lost iconic BBC world service presenter Komla Dumor, aged 41. His death was received with shock in Ghana, Africa and other parts of the world. He discharged his journalistic duties with enthusiasm, style and excellence to the admiration of all. Komla was an inspirational figure and ultimate role model for many young Ghanaians, so his death was painful indeed.

I've never met or interacted with Mr Dumor. Everything I know about him was derived from his work on radio, TV and online. Back in our university dorms at Legon, where Joy FM super morning show was a staple, we relied on the incisive questions and analyses of Komla and his colleagues to gain understanding of the everyday issues of Ghana and beyond. The kind of broadcasting practised by the likes of Komla Dumor, Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, and Stan Dogbe at the time was hard to come by in Ghana. Watching Komla Dumor play leading roles at BBC through Focus on Africa, World News, FIFA World Cup and Nelson Mandela funeral coverage was a source of pride for me as a Ghanaian. He eruditely discharged his duties to wide acclaim, again demonstrating that Africans can excel in any endeavour when given the opportunity. It is therefore not surprising that Komla is widely celebrated by all who know him and his work, amidst the grief of his passing. Ghana's online community has been forthcoming with fitting tributes, which Jemila Abdulai and I compiled together for BloggingGhana. Read our compilation on bloggingghana.org.

 Komla Dumor's success was achieved through hard work and perseverance. This is an important lesson for all ambitious young people: experiencing failures and trials on the journey of life is akin to the refinement process gold goes through in fire. You can only get better! Komla gave similar insights through his talk on "going global" during Springboard 2013 road show (Koforidua).

Did you ever meet Komla Dumor or follow his work? What is the most important lesson that you picked up from his life? Komla, dzudzɔ le nutifafa me!

MISE Mathematics Tournament 2014

MISE Foundation is currently accepting application from 11-17 year old students in Ghana for their 2014 mathematics tournament.

The tournament is an international mathematics contest designed to challenge students beyond the normal school curriculum and to help identify gifted young mathematicians for further development... Ultimately the best students will represent Ghana at the international event the following year.

Unlike other competitions, this contest comes with training opportunities for the participants. MISE also has an international mathematics summer camp that gives the opportunity for motivated students to engage world class mathematicians and technologists from diverse backgrounds.

According to Joel Dogoe of MISE:

any student interested in math can apply but our selection programme will look for the best out of all applicants. We de-emphasise the competition bit of the programme when we identify students for the training programme. So far our alumni are a testimony of the programme's success and we are still working hard to identify more of such talents here in Ghana.

I think the MISE initiative is a brilliant way to engage young students in mathematics. Any student passionate about developing a career in the mathematical sciences or merely intent on building their analytical skills should give this a shot!